Helenio Herrera

Helenio Herrera Gavilán (; 10 April 1910 – 9 November 1997) was an Argentine and naturalised French football player and manager. He is best remembered for his success with the Inter Milan team known as Grande Inter in the 1960s.

During his managerial career, Herrera won four La Liga titles in Spain (with Atlético Madrid and Barcelona) and three Serie A titles in Italy with Inter. He also guided Inter to European glory, winning two consecutive European Cups, among several other honours. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time.

Herrera was arguably the first manager to collect credit for his teams' performances, in the process becoming a superstar in the world of football. Up to that time, managers were more marginal figures in a team. All teams throughout Europe were known for their headline-grabbing individual players, e.g. Di Stéfano's Real Madrid, whereas Inter during the 1960s is still referred to as Herrera's Inter.

Early life and playing career Herrera was born in 1910 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to immigrant parents from Spain. His father Francisco, who worked as a carpenter, was an exiled anarchist originally from Andalusia. His mother, Maria Gavilán Martínez, was a cleaner. In 1920, Herrera's family left Argentina for Casablanca, in what was then French Morocco, in search of a better life. In Casablanca, Herrera started his career as a footballer.

He immediately emigrated to Italy and signed with Inter Milan (where he was to remain until 1968), winning three Serie A titles and two European Cups during his stay with the club, where he used a 5–3–2 formation, and modified a tactic known as the Verrou (door bolt) – used by Karl Rappan – to include larger flexibility for counter-attacks; thus, the Catenaccio system was born. The side was later nicknamed Grande Inter, due to the club's successes under Herrera's eight–year spell, which saw the team win back–to–back European Cup titles in 1964 and 1965, as well as three Serie A titles, and two Intercontinental Cup titles. During this time he was also coaching Spain (between 1959 and 1962) and Italy (1966–67).

Tactics and style of management Herrera's standard formation at Inter was the 5–3–2 system, which almost always included a sweeper (usually the team's captain, Armando Picchi), as well as four man-marking defenders. He was openly dismissive of teams that had an obsession for dominating ball possession, declaring that "the ball always moves further, and more quickly, when there isn't a player behind it".

Aside from the team's defensive strength and organisation when defending behind the ball, some of the key elements of Herrera's Grande Inter side of the 1960s were the use of vertical football and very quick, efficient counter-attacks, which allowed the team to score with few touches. This was made possible due to Herrera's use of very quick and energetic, attacking full-backs, such as Giacinto Facchetti, and Tarcisio Burgnich, who would often detach themselves from the back-line, and catch their opponents by surprise with their overlapping runs.

After successive European Cups in 1964 and 1965,

Personal life

Herrera was married three times and had eight children: Francis (b. 1937), Hélène (b. 1938), Linda (b. 1941), Daniéle (b. 1942), Helenio Angel (b. 1952), Rocío (b. 1957), Helios (b. 1972) and Luna (b. 1974), who was adopted. Five of his children were born in France, two in Spain and one in Italy.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager Atlético Madrid La Liga: 1949–50, 1950–51 Copa Eva Duarte: 1951

Sevilla La Liga runner-up: 1956-57 Copa del Rey runner-up: 1954-55

Barcelona La Liga: 1958–59, 1959–60 Copa del Rey: 1958–59, 1980–81 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 1958–60

Inter Milan Serie A: 1962–63, 1964–65, 1965–66 Coppa Italia runner-up: 1964-65 European Cup: 1963–64, 1964–65 Intercontinental Cup: 1964, 1965

Roma Coppa Italia: 1968–69 Anglo-Italian Cup: 1972

Individual Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2015 Greatest Manager of All Time – one of 5 managers ranked top 10 by France Football, World Soccer and ESPN 4th place (World Soccer): 2013 5th place (ESPN): 2013 8th place (FourFourTwo): 2023